NEWS
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28 Mar 2023 - Performance Report: Insync Global Quality Equity Fund
[Current Manager Report if available]
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28 Mar 2023 - Australian Secure Capital Fund - Market Update
Australian Secure Capital Fund - Market Update February Australian Secure Capital Fund March 2023
Property in Sydney recorded growth of 0.3% for the month, whilst Perth (-0.10%), Adelaide (-0.20%) and Darwin (-0.30%) all recorded minor reductions. Brisbane (-0.40%), Melbourne (-0.40%) and Canberra (-0.50%) also recorded smaller monthly falls than in recent months, with only Hobart (-1.4%) recording a reduction of more than 1%, with all capital cities still recording values above pre-pandemic levels. New listing volume remains low, with 24,658 listings over the 4 weeks ending February 26, 17% below that of 2022 and 11.9% below the 5-year average. The last weekend of February recorded the highest number of auctions for the year (2,393), which was up 29.6% on the previous week (1,846); however this was still 29.3% lower than the same weekend last year (3,386). This trend is likely to continue until such a time that interest rates stabilise and confidence returns. Whilst volumes are down, clearance rates are relatively strong, with Adelaide leading the way with an 88.6% clearance rate (83.8% last year), contributing to a national average of 69.7% (70.9% last year). The clearance rates for Sydney and Melbourne were also strong, recording 71.8% (72.6% last year) and 68.2% (67.6% last year), respectively. Brisbane's clearance rate was slightly weaker at 64.8% (70.6% last year) as was Canberra with 59.8% (74.4% last year). We believe prices should start to stabilise from here due to a fundamental under-supply of housing stock. The easing of the rate in which prices are declining is likely due to this lack of supply, and with many economists forecasting that we are nearing the end of the rate rise cycle, buyer demand is likely to increase through the second half of the year and into 2024 as confidence returns. Funds operated by this manager: ASCF High Yield Fund, ASCF Premium Capital Fund, ASCF Select Income Fund |
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27 Mar 2023 - Performance Report: PURE Income & Growth Fund
[Current Manager Report if available]
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27 Mar 2023 - Investment Perspectives: Is the Aussie residential market bottoming?
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24 Mar 2023 - Hedge Clippings | 24 March 2023
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Hedge Clippings | 24 March 2023
What defines the best managed fund? This week we thought we'd give politics and politicians a rest, as well as tax and the superannuation system. We're not even going to elaborate on the frailty or otherwise of the US or global banking system, except to say "who ever thought the Swiss would run into trouble?" Instead, we're looking at the performance of equity markets, and managed funds - and specifically the best performing ones, over varying time frames. We also refer to an excellent article (see link) by Romano Sala Tenna, Portfolio Manager at Katana Asset Management in Graham Hand's excellent "First Links" newsletter. The essence of the article is that time, and patience, are the keys to successful long term investing in the equity market. While there may be some volatility along the way, Romano clearly shows that the market's direction (given time) is always upwards. Which of course begs the question why so many investors try to "punt" the market, with highly variable results. Maybe it is simply the love of the punt, or possibly one, the other, or both of the two most common flaws of investing; greed and fear. As Romano points out, the sharpest fall (3 months) in the history of the ASX was in early 2020, thanks to COVID. Those who sold in February or March 2020 missed out on one of the strongest rallies which followed. He also points out that the market has averaged a return of 10.8% over the last 147 years. That may be longer than most fund managers propose, but you probably get the point. Romano's message is to invest for the long term and stay patient. As the chart below shows, on a rolling basis if you had invested in the market for any 8 year period since 1875, you won't have experienced a negative return. Some might wonder why, given Fund Monitors' focus is on managed funds, we're looking at investing directly in the market. Quite simply, choosing a managed fund is not so easy investing in the index. Managed funds come in all shapes and sizes, and performance varies between them. Performance also varies over time, and we would agree that when analysing the performance of funds one has to look at performance over the longer term. However, some of the best performing Australian Long Only funds over one year don't always back it up, year after year. The top 10 performing funds over the longer term however (7 years) don't always appear in the top 10 over 5, 3, and 1 year. Careful analysis shows consistency (at least in the top 10 list) is difficult to achieve. For the record, Romano's Katana Australian Equity Fund makes the Top 10 list in all four time frames - 1, 3, 5, and 7 years. Rob Gregory's Glenmore Asset Management doesn't have a 7 year track record but makes the top 10 over 5, 3, and 1 year. DMX Capital Partners and Anacacia's Wattle Fund appear in the top 10 tables 3 times, each over 7, 5, and 3 years. Analysis of managed funds isn't as simple as just selecting the top performing funds. Join our webinar "Making the Most of Fund Monitor's Data" next week, either on Tuesday 28th at 11:30 in the morning, or alternatively on Thursday 30th at 4:00 in the afternoon (both AEST) and we'll give you a site tour and tips on how to use the website to compare and track over 700 funds. |
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News & Insights Experiences Rule! | Insync Fund Managers Trip Insights: Americas | 4D Infrastructure February 2023 Performance News Digital Asset Fund (Digital Opportunities Class) Insync Global Capital Aware Fund Bennelong Emerging Companies Fund Emit Capital Climate Finance Equity Fund |
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24 Mar 2023 - Performance Report: Digital Asset Fund (Digital Opportunities Class)
[Current Manager Report if available]
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24 Mar 2023 - Covid disruption and its effect on women in the workplace
Covid disruption and its effect on women in the workplace abrdn March 2023 March 8 is International Women's Day - a day for celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women around the world. It's also a day when calls for accelerating gender parity are most vocal. This year's focus is on 'equity' - the idea that people are all different, and that to be 'fair', people will need different types of assistance to reach their potential. Our A Woman's Place research series showed that higher female participation in the workforce isn't just ethical, it's also a solution to lacklustre economic growth in the developed world. We created the Gender Equality Index (GEI), as part of this series, to assess the levels of gender equality in 29 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Leaders, laggardsPerhaps not surprisingly, Nordic countries - Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland - continue to top the ranking in the latest GEI update, a reflection of those countries' long history of progressive social policies that give women there more choices (See Chart 1). Chart 1: Scandinavian countries hold onto top spots Source: abrdn, World Bank, OECD, VDEM, as of 2023 Bringing up the rear are Italy, the US, South Korea and Japan - again there was little change in this part of the table. Women in the US still have limited maternity leave relative to their peers, while Japan and South Korea lag in terms of female empowerment. Covid slowed progressAs these countries emerge from almost three years of pandemic-induced social and economic disruption, the index uncovers a slowdown in female-employment rates in several economies. Here are two reasons why:
Chart 2: Women's working hours fell more than men's during the initial Covid wave
Source: OECD, as of 2020 As a result, the average female labour force participation rate remains below the pre-pandemic rate. The average female labour force participation rate remains below the pre-pandemic rate On the bright sideHowever, it's not all bad news. The index also shows that:
Final thoughtsThe pandemic has shone a light on the structural inequalities that exist within societies and economies. However, much more needs to be done to systematically address these issues. For example, caregivers' leave - a temporary Covid-era policy - could be made permanent to address the unequal distribution of responsibilities placed on women. Improving access to caregiving and increasing flexibility in the labour market are key to retaining women in the workforce. Understanding the extent to which the lasting effects of the pandemic have improved, or worsened, labour market inequalities will take time. But the GEI is one tool we can use to do so. Author: Abigail Watt, Research Economist, Research Institute |
Funds operated by this manager: Aberdeen Standard Actively Hedged International Equities Fund, Aberdeen Standard Asian Opportunities Fund, Aberdeen Standard Australian Small Companies Fund, Aberdeen Standard Emerging Opportunities Fund, Aberdeen Standard Ex-20 Australian Equities Fund (Class A), Aberdeen Standard Focused Sustainable Australian Equity Fund, Aberdeen Standard Fully Hedged International Equities Fund, Aberdeen Standard Global Absolute Return Strategies Fund, Aberdeen Standard Global Corporate Bond Fund, Aberdeen Standard International Equity Fund, Aberdeen Standard Multi Asset Real Return Fund, Aberdeen Standard Multi-Asset Income Fund |
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23 Mar 2023 - Performance Report: Insync Global Capital Aware Fund
[Current Manager Report if available]
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23 Mar 2023 - The Rate Debate - Ep35 Is the RBA setting monetary policy in the rear-view mirror?
The Rate Debate - Ep35 Is the RBA setting monetary policy in the rear-view mirror? Yarra Capital Management February 2023 At its first meeting for 2023, the RBA hiked rates for the ninth consecutive month to urgently tame inflation, telling the market to expect more to come. Given Australia's inflation levels have lagged the US, is Australia six months behind? or are we going into a period of higher inflation than the rest of the world?
Author: Darren Langer and Chris Rands, seasoned fixed-income specialists |
Funds operated by this manager: Yarra Australian Equities Fund, Yarra Emerging Leaders Fund, Yarra Enhanced Income Fund, Yarra Income Plus Fund |
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22 Mar 2023 - Performance Report: PURE Resources Fund
[Current Manager Report if available]